A newly renovated apartment complex in South County offers farm workers an affordable housing option.

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"We like to go on vacation there. We like to eat the vegetables that we're all having in our salad, but it's very challenging for the folks who are picking those vegetables and waiting on us to find a place to live," Eden Housing president Linda Mandolini said.

Eden Housing upgraded the Camphora Apartments. The 44 two- and three-bedroom units on McCoy Road in Soledad are now affordable housing options for farm workers and their families.

It took about one year to complete the project that now has a more family friendly feel with a playground, basketball court and computer room.

Monterey County has been working to upgrade these homes for years.

"In WWII, a lot of folks left the farms to fight in the Army for the U.S. We didn't have enough people to actually harvest the food so the government created a legal immigration program for people from Mexico, mainly men, to come to California to help," Mandolini said.

That's when the original dormitories in Watsonville and South County were built.

Mandolini said those units were created for single men only, not families. So when more families started moving in, they knew a change had to be made. One year and $21 million later, 44 families are enjoying a new place to call home.

"We see enormous need for affordable homes. We see people who live and work in our economy, desperate for a decent, affordable place to raise their family. Our goal now is to really look in the region to identify new projects," Mandolini said.

Mandolini said the goal is to open more units for low income families, but it's not an easy task. This one alone cost $21 million and was a huge collaboration between the federal government, state, county and U.S. Bank.

The project finished in March. Residents were able to move in in April.